Member Avatar for Acidburn

Hello, I have a few questions:

After comming off the phone from me mom, whose nicely suggested that she'll go half to a laptop...

I have 2 questions-

*Importanting a laptop like this : laptop

this is still in the UK but if I buy it from lets say America its half the price. - Would Ipay import duty? If so how much will the total cost be - would it be any cheaper?

*If I did buy it from overseas, would it work? Since voltage differential...

Does anyone else have any input on which laptop I should get?

Cheers

John

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jwenting

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This thread is asking two things at once: whether importing a cheaper machine makes sense, and which laptop best fits a uni programming/workhorse role on a ~£1,000 budget. wants something portable, Linux-friendly and easy to take home from university; already raised useful tradeoffs. Below are practical, non-repeated points to check before buying (especially if considering an overseas seller) and a short test workflow to verify Linux support.

If you even consider buying abroad, work out the landed cost and return rules first. Use the UK government guidance for taxes and charges so you can get an official estimate: Check if you should pay tax and duty on goods sent from abroad. Ask the seller about international warranty coverage, spare-part availability in the UK, and whether returns are handled locally. Confirm keyboard layout and whether the AC adapter and plugs match UK standards (read the adapter label before assuming anything).

Linux compatibility matters more than brand names. Prefer hardware with strong upstream driver support (Intel chips and Atheros Wi‑Fi historically have better Linux support). Before buying, make a Live-USB of a current distribution and run this checklist on the target machine: boot from USB, test Wi‑Fi, suspend/resume, touchpad gestures, audio, brightness and Fn keys, webcam and Bluetooth. Also check the distro’s certified machines list: Ubuntu certified hardware.

Shopping checklist for a uni programming laptop: high-quality keyboard, screen resolution that fits code comfortably, SSD for responsiveness, easily upgradeable RAM/drive, solid battery life and light enough to carry daily. If in doubt between similar models, choose the one that’s easiest to service locally and that you can test with a Live USB before committing.

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Member Avatar for jwenting

From the US you'd pay import duties, plus UK VAT.
You'd also get a US-only warranty, and of course a US 110V powersupply.

Many US companies won't ship overseas, certainly they won't be allowed to ship a laptop with software overseas as many software companies don't allow their US products to be sold overseas (US law involved there).

Total cost of getting it into the UK, getting UK software for it, and a UK powersupply, would be more than the savings.
Remember that VAT and import duties are leveraged over the FULL cost of the order INCLUDING shipping charges.
The item will also be charged for VAT and duties at the price it would cost you in the UK, not necessarilly the price you paid for it in the US.

Member Avatar for jwenting

As to what laptop to get, that's impossible to say without you giving some indication about your budget and requirements.

If you have 500 pounds to spend on a laptop on which you want to do some websurfing and word processing you'd get different advise than when you have 2000 pounds to spend on a machine for high end photo processing and programming.

Member Avatar for Acidburn

Just a laptop that will be ideal to take home when I'm at uni. Ive got a full end of the range PC - not ideal for throwing in the back of the car and taking home... Bit of a time consuming to set up once at home too.

Basically it would be ideal for running Linux maybe... not sure yet! And doing high end programming and web surfing with it...

Budgest wise... just under £1000

Member Avatar for jwenting

Any of the current crop of laptops should do then.
For programming in my experience RAM is usually more important than CPU so you may decide on a machine with more RAM and a slightly slower processor.

Toshiba, Dell, and HP have some decent machines in that range, personally I'd go for a Centrino based machine with 512MB RAM and a decent size harddisk.
As you're not interested in videos and games (at least primarilly) get that down first and look at the graphics card only as a secondary concern if you can get several machines with the same CPU and other options inside your budget.

Also look at battery life. You will want something that can last several hours on batteries at least. Handy in a traffic jam or when you're stuck waiting for a train or in an airport.

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